“Modern supercomputers can no longer focus only on raw performance,” said David Turek, vice president of deep computing at IBM. “To be commercially viable these systems most also be energy efficient. IBM has a rich history of innovation that has significantly increased energy efficiency of our systems at all levels of the system that are designed to simultaneously reduce data center costs and energy use.”
A cleantech investment portal is scheduled to launch July, 1st 2009. The goal is to become the forum for connecting real cleantech opportunities with cleantech investors. The site will feature a directory of all cleantech venture capital firms, angel networks and private investors. It will also serve as a forum for cleantech based companies to post their executive summary, business plan, pitch document, requested investment amount, etc.
The site also plans to create a monthly venture report which will be emailed to a global network of registered cleantech investors. Cleantech-Capital.net boasts a pre-established investor network of over 2000 cleantech investors, and those numbers are growing fast. If all goes according to plan, the site could become the eHarmony of Cleantech, making matches between investors and cleantech companies for years to come.
Fellow startups - check out these helpful insights from Greentech Media and take a look at how the big guys are gearing up their green initiatives.
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Unilever, IBM and other companies said they are constantly investigating green technologies that would help them conserve energy or sell products to customers who embrace efficiencies.
What do big companies like Unilever, IBM or Frito-Lay want from cleantech startups? The answer appears to be technologies that will help them go “green” or sell the things they already understand.
Unilever, which makes food as well as personal and household cleaning products, is interested in smart grid technologies, but not because it wants to enter the information technology market. The company is keenly interested in how consumers use water and other resources at home, said Phil Giesler, director of innovation and corporate ventures at Unilever.
“We realized that the major water use is not in the process of making the products but in how consumers use them,” said Giesler at the Dow Jones Alternative Energy Innovation near San Francisco on Wednesday. Giesler joined other company executives on a panel about what large companies want to startups. “That realization has led us to come up with formulations that need less water” to use.
It was a proud moment for Virginians as Aneesh Chopra, the state’s Secretary of Technology, was named CTO by President Obama on Saturday April 18, 2009. Chopra was in the running with many of Silicon Valley’s most prominent figures, including Steve Ballmer, Jeff Bezos, Bill Gates, and Eric Schmidt (among many others).
Many feel Chopra received the nod because of his track record. His work in Virginia has included initiatives like Learning Apps Development Challenge, which encourages middle-school math students to develop their own iPhone apps. He has also developed a state-funded “venture capital fund” to allow government agencies to try out risky but promising new approaches to delivering their services or improving their productivity.
Representatives from Google and various Silicon Valley venture capital firms are praising President Obama’s decision. Tim O’Reilly has created a list entitled eight reason to be excited about Chopra.
It’s an exciting time. The nation’s first CTO is not only extremely qualified, but his Virginia background signals the growth of a national technology movement, beyond traditional hotbeds like Silicon Valley. With a new voice for Virginia in Washington, many are hoping for a renewed focus on funding the state’s technology development companies and programs.
The academic resources, concentrated community of engineers, and highly skilled former HP executives drew Influent to house its operational arm, SynnOps, LLC, in Corvallis, OR. But wait, there’s more. Based upon a 2009 study released by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)’s Green Power Communities Program, Corvallis is also officially the ‘greenest’ city in America. According to the EPA, the city of 55,000, about 90 minutes from Portland, purchases 13 percent of its electricity from environmentally-friendly sources, or more than 100 million kilowatts (100,000 megawatts). The city’s power suppliers are comprised of Bonneville Environmental Foundation, Consumers Power and Pacific Power.
Downtown Corvallis, Oregon
Influent was attracted to the intellectual resources in Corvallis, but now the unique city is also the preeminent eco-friendly community. Could there be a better place to harvest resources for a cleantech startup? We don’t think so. As we continue to pursue the development of clean, energy efficient, breakthrough solutions; we are excited to further our relationship with SynnOps, LLC and the greater Corvallis community.
To add more fuel to the fire check out these Corvallis accolades:
On February 18, 2008, Corvallis was named the fifth smartest city in America by Forbes Online Magazine.
A survey by the National Science Foundation found Corvallis ranks second in the nation for the number of scientists as a percentage of total employment (12.7 percent) as of 2006.
The February 2004 issue of the Harvard Business Review ranks Corvallis as the 15th most creative city in the nation.
Corvallis ranked fourth in nation for the highest number of patents issued by city (USA Today, 2002.)
Corvallis ranked 7th out of about 500 U.S. cities for best places to do business (BizDemographics, 2002.)
Influent’s CEO, Larry Hatch, announced plans to attend the first Going Green East conference, located in Boston, MA. The Bay Area’s Going Green conference has been such a success, that is has birthed an east coast version. The event, scheduled for March 9th-11th, promises to draw cutting-edge greentech CEOs, investors and other prominent industry players. The event will honor the GoingGreen Top 50 Private Companies and feature 50 greentech CEOs that will pitch their market strategies to a panel of industry experts in the “CEO Showcases.”
The 44th US President, Barak Obama, brings with him a very ambitious energy plan. The President’s legislation will benefit cleantech companies across the board from energy efficiency to wind and solar.
The plan entails three bills that aim to accomplish one goal—$150 billion to building clean energy.
The first is the $825 billion stimulus package that is expected to be signed into law in February. The bill includes $20 billion in tax cuts for alternative energy and research and development concentrated on energy conservation and efficiency, $32 billion to modernize the power transmission grid, $16 billion to retrofit public housing to use less energy, and $2.4 billion for developing technology to lower emissions at coal-fired power plants.
The second is a new energy bill that will call for a renewable mandate: 10 percent of the country’s electricity from renewable sources by 2012, and 25 percent by 2025. According to an interview conducted by Red Herring, Michael Eckhart, president of the American Council on Renewable Energy (ACORE), confirmed this mandate, stating the energy bill should contain a nationwide renewable electricity standard, also called a renewable portfolio standard, which requires an increasing amount of the country’s electricity to be generated from renewable sources like wind and solar.
Last, Mr. Obama also has his sights on creating a climate bill to reduce overall greenhouse gas emissions. The energy plan calls for a cap-and-trade system. Carbon-emitting companies trade emissions credits, or allowances, in an open market under a cap, or limit, on those emissions. The climate bill could mandate reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 80 percent by 2050.
There is a lot of excitement and anticipation around Obama’s energy bills in the cleantech community. According to the Center for Responsive Politics, the cleantech investment community voted Obama 6-1 over McCain in the election.
Administrative backing coupled with a real need for alternative energies sets the stage for the development and growth of today’s cleantech companies. Let’s hope the current economic situation does not detain the president from fulfilling his clean energy promises.
Though the price of oil has drastically declined over the past several months, the development of long term alternatives to gas powered vehicles is still in high gear. Electric vehicle (EV) companies are racing to take the market and promote the unique features of their products, but there are still some bumps in the road.
The development of EVs means that component level issues, such as the ability to cool car ‘hot spots’ must be integrated into the build. The power system for an electric vehicle (EV) consists of a motor controller, motor and energy source (e.g., battery). According to the CEO of an EV system company, these components all have huge issues with heat. These issues must be dealt with via a thermal management solution for EVs to truly become a viable option.
Joule
Despite this inhibitor, there are several EV companies that are preparing their products for launch. For example, Optimal Energy, a South African based EV company is débuting the Joule for purchase in the U.S. and Europe in 2010. Their competitive edge — ultimate customization for the greenest of consumers. According to VentureBeat, the electric Joule, an innately eco-friendly car comes with the option to integrate solar panels on the roof to help charge the car. The car is to have a range of almost 250 miles and top speed of about 80 miles per hour. The Joule is projected to cost $22,000 USD.
EV companies are highlighting unique and beneficial features to differentiate themselves from the competition, but an ideal thermal management solution could enhance the appeal of owning an EV. The range per charge could be extended even further, one of the top concerns coming from today’s potential consumer.
During our meetings with data-center companies, we have asked their take on the green data-center movement. A different kind of green is often emphasized—money.
Energy efficiency is one of the most sought after characteristics in computing. There are two reasons for this; first is the ability to create PR and influence public opinion and second is the need to create higher computing density without increasing energy costs. If a given device can make a data center 20% more efficient then the same center can offer 20% more computing power without adding additional costs. Although many data-centers are working hard to become innately more efficient, this often means using the same amount of power to do more work rather than a focus on overall power reduction.
Some purists might consider this not truly ‘going green,’ however using the same amount of power to produce more work is in fact the definition of efficiency. Being green only has upsides; you’re creating positive PR, saving money while creating greater computing power and did I mention helping the environment.
Check out a network of data-center companies that feel the same way. Visit Greengrid. A global consortium dedicated to advancing energy efficiency in data-centers and business computing ecosystems.
I would like to elaborate on a point that I touched on at the end of my last blog: component integration in the cleantech industry. The trend in cleantech towards innovative hardware components means that hardware companies are integrating with one another to create the best possible solution, which in turn produces the largest profit.
The benefits of integration aren’t exactly new news, but let’s put today’s cleantech hardware companies in perspective by visiting the significance of Seagate Technology. Seagate’s creation of the first hard disc completely revolutionized the computing industry. However it was their partnership with Control Data Corporation (CDC) that further propelled their success.
Seagate Technology was the first to create a hard disc to fit the 5.25-inch form factor of the PC “mini-floppy” drive, ST-506. Seagate revolutionized the amount of data that could be stored in set space. Their new technology was selected by IBM and negotiated for a large volume contract. Seagates relationship with IBM allowed them to build a powerful distribution channel. Seagate management believed that vertical integration of key components was crucial in the face of competition. This mentality spurred Seagate’s purchase of Control Data Corporation CDC’s voice-coil and disk-manufacturing patents. This gave Seagate access to a high-end server customer base and the first 5,400 drives on the market (the CDC Elite series). Seagate quickly began to leverage vertical integration across its entire product line and became a dominant force. Seagate’s vision for integration has taken them down a successful path with innovations like first palm-sized external-storage device that could hold 5 gigabytes of data and on June 2, 2008, they announced a 2.5-inch enterprise solution (Savvio 10K.3 hard drive) which consumes 70% less power than traditional 3.5-inch drives and offered 300 gigabytes of capacity.
Seagate is a prime example of a hardware company that recognized the need for integration. I think cleantech hardware companies are realizing that they would be smart to follow the same path.
Kasey Hayes is the primary contributor of Influent's blog. Kasey is a member of the Influent founding team and currently serves as a Marketing Manager. Kasey has an advantage when it comes to startups; her family has been involved in the technology startup business for over 20 years. This exposure gives her a unique perspective into the day-to-day life of bringing a disruptive technology to market. This outlook is accompanied by her deep interest in furthering the cleantech ecosystem through applied innovation. E-mail Kasey.
Seagate Technology was the first to create a hard disc to fit the 5.25-inch form factor of the PC “mini-floppy” drive, ST-506. Seagate revolutionized the amount of data that could be stored in set space. Their new technology was selected by IBM and negotiated for a large volume contract. Seagates relationship with IBM allowed them to build a powerful distribution channel. Seagate management believed that vertical integration of key components was crucial in the face of competition. This mentality spurred Seagate’s purchase of Control Data Corporation CDC’s voice-coil and disk-manufacturing patents. This gave Seagate access to a high-end server customer base and the first 5,400 drives on the market (the CDC Elite series). Seagate quickly began to leverage vertical integration across its entire product line and became a dominant force. Seagate’s vision for integration has taken them down a successful path with innovations like first palm-sized external-storage device that could hold 5 gigabytes of data and on June 2, 2008, they announced a 2.5-inch enterprise solution (Savvio 10K.3 hard drive) which consumes 70% less power than traditional 3.5-inch drives and offered 300 gigabytes of capacity.